Projectors and digital presentation devices are used in a wide variety of industries and in various settings and applications. Such settings may include conference room presentations, classroom lectures, and various training applications. Due to the relatively high cost of such devices, financial loss due to theft is of special concern for entities such as corporations, government agencies and educational institutions that purchase large quantities of these devices. Thus, it is of primary importance for such entities to address theft prevention prior to making LCD projectors and digital presentation devices available to employees, students and others who may use these devices in public and semi-public areas.
Traditional presentation or audio-visual (AV) carts accommodate LCD projectors and various digital presentation devices but lack a security system to protect the devices from theft. In order to reduce losses from theft, various security solutions are available from manufacturers of security products. Although some of the security solutions may have a primary objective of theft protection, they possess certain deficiencies which fail to protect against theft but still allowing for mobility of the presentation devices. Furthermore, many security solutions are unable to secure a variety of different types of presentation devices. In addition, many security solutions require permanent attachment of the presentation devices to a plate or other object in order to prevent theft.
Another deficiency associated with conventional anti-theft devices such as projector locks is the lack of portability of the presentation device in moving the device from one room to another. For example, certain projector locks include a cable which must be looped around a stationary object to prevent theft. Thus, transporting the presentation device from one room to another requires first unlocking the lock to remove the cable from the stationary object in one room, moving the presentation device to another room and then re-locking the lock after looping the cable around a stationary object in the room. Other lock arrangements include alarms that may be connected to a stationary base using a tether. The alarm is triggered if the tether is cut or unplugged. Moving the presentation device from one room to another room typically requires a key to disarm the alarm and a stationary base in the other room in which to plug the tether.
Perhaps the greatest deficiency associated with conventional anti-theft projector locks is the lack of adjustability of the presentation device to provide for optimal usability. In particular, many security solutions restrict horizontal and/or vertical adjustment of the presentation device which may be desirable when the presentation device is used in different settings where the projector screen may be at different heights, for example. Furthermore, may security solutions for preventing theft of presentation devices lack a swivel capability to further increase the directional adjustability of the presentation device. By restricting adjustment of the presentation device, the projector locks greatly limit the settings and locations in which the presentation devices may be used.
In view of the above-described shortcomings of conventional security solutions, there exists a need in the art for a projector mount that secures a projector or other digital presentation device to a support in an effective manner. More specifically, there exists a need in the art for a projector mount that can effectively secure a projector or other digital presentation device to a support and which further provides the capability of protecting the device against theft while allowing for vertical and/or horizontal tilt and swivel capability of the presentation device. Even further, there exists a need in the art for a projector mount that effectively secures a projector or other digital presentation device to a support but which is adapted to mount a variety of different audio/visual devices such as pen tablets and electronic document cameras on a single workstand in modular fashion.